GEORGE, Wash. — Deputies do not believe a man arrested at the Gorge Amphitheater the night of Aug. 19 intended to commit a mass shooting.
Detectives interviewed the 31-year-old from Ephrata and searched two vehicles before coming to the conclusion.
"Detectives have interviewed [the suspect] and have served search warrants on two vehicles," a Facebook post from the sheriff's office states. "While the investigation is not yet finished, what we can say is that we now don’t feel that his intent was to cause a mass shooting."
The Grant County Sheriff's Office has not specified why deputies originally believed the man "may have had plans to commit a mass shooting," nor has the office released details into why that is no longer the case.
The man was arrested after security and visitors at the Gorge told police that someone in the parking lot had inhaled an unknown "substance or gas from a balloon" and loaded two pistols from the trunk of his car.
The man reportedly concealed one of the pistols in his waistband and put the second pistol in an outside-the-waistband holster, according to the Grant County Sheriff’s Office.
The man reportedly approached concertgoers attending the Bass Canyon and asked attendees what time the show ended and where people would be exiting the venue.
The man never made it inside the event and was detained and disarmed by police outside the venue gates. He was arrested on suspicion of one count of possession of a dangerous weapon and one count of unlawful carrying or handling of a weapon.
No one was injured.
The man was arraigned in Grant County District Court Monday on the two charges. He pleaded not guilty.
The man was released Monday night after posting bail.